Thread: My Natural honing experiances to date.

Last night i took out 3 natural stones and did some honing. Jnat, dark blue Thuringian and an African Zulu. I found 3 german razors that i felt i could do a little better with on there edges and sat down to do some honing. Took all 3 razors and lightly killed the edge. Put them on the 8k then a few laps on the 12k for a solid base.

I used all 3 of these stones in the same way. Around 100 laps with preasure on slurry, another 100 or so laps while deluting the slurry with preasure, another 50+ on clear water with preasure then finished on clear water with a light stroke about 80+ laps.

I also honed up one razor from scratch to 20k so i had 4 to test this afternoon. Test shave was very nice.
20k edge wiped the wiskers away with no issues.

Jnat edge was keen and smooth. Not as keen as the 20k but a little less harsh. Not bad at all. I would call it a nice step back from the 20k but just a little.

The Zulu was keen but smoother than the Jnat edge. The keenness might have been about the same as Jnat but the feel was smoother, more comfort.

The Thuri was an eye opener. It wasnt as keen as the others but damn close. But the comfort level was much higher than the others. A little loss in sharpness for a lot more comfort.

I was very happy with my testing. All razors turned out to be nice edges and all felt differently. And i honed them all in the same way. Now i was going to put an Arkie in the mix but its an oil stone and i didnt want to get that in the mix.

So, I feel my honing is getting better all the time. Synthetics are simple. A no brainer. And now the naturals are all coming together too. Fun, fun! Just wanted to let you all know about this Natural Rock Journey I went on.

If i can now learn to get along with my Cnat and Washita. Its a long slow trip but very enjoyable!

Originally Posted by Gasman

....snip.... Synthetics are simple. A no brainer. ....snip....

Hey Gasman!!!
Try not to make us that are still working on the simple feel so bad.

Originally Posted by Diboll

Hey Gasman!!!
Try not to make us that are still working on the simple feel so bad.

Oops. Sorry bro. It will come around. It just takes time. It took me many many months before it came together with ease. But keep in mind, im a picky bastard! Ha.

The first giant step is the perfect apex. Once you have that dialed it the rest is icing on the cakes.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Last night i took out 3 natural stones and did some honing. Jnat, dark blue Thuringian and an African Zulu. I found 3 german razors that i felt i could do a little better with on there edges and sat down to do some honing. Took all 3 razors and lightly killed the edge. Put them on the 8k then a few laps on the 12k for a solid base.

I used all 3 of these stones in the same way. Around 100 laps with preasure on slurry, another 100 or so laps while deluting the slurry with preasure, another 50+ on clear water with preasure then finished on clear water with a light stroke about 80+ laps.

I also honed up one razor from scratch to 20k so i had 4 to test this afternoon. Test shave was very nice.
20k edge wiped the wiskers away with no issues.

Jnat edge was keen and smooth. Not as keen as the 20k but a little less harsh. Not bad at all. I would call it a nice step back from the 20k but just a little.

The Zulu was keen but smoother than the Jnat edge. The keenness might have been about the same as Jnat but the feel was smoother, more comfort.

The Thuri was an eye opener. It wasnt as keen as the others but damn close. But the comfort level was much higher than the others. A little loss in sharpness for a lot more comfort.

I was very happy with my testing. All razors turned out to be nice edges and all felt differently. And i honed them all in the same way. Now i was going to put an Arkie in the mix but its an oil stone and i didnt want to get that in the mix.

So, I feel my honing is getting better all the time. Synthetics are simple. A no brainer. And now the naturals are all coming together too. Fun, fun! Just wanted to let you all know about this Natural Rock Journey I went on.

If i can now learn to get along with my Cnat and Washita. Its a long slow trip but very enjoyable!

I am glad you are getting somewhere. I did not have success with a bunch of different finishers until I did a long while of exclusive honing on one. Once I got very consistent results I moved to another. I still have a few hones I need to “figure out” too.
:-)

Originally Posted by Gasman

Last night i took out 3 natural stones and did some honing. Jnat, dark blue Thuringian and an African Zulu. I found 3 german razors that i felt i could do a little better with on there edges and sat down to do some honing. Took all 3 razors and lightly killed the edge. Put them on the 8k then a few laps on the 12k for a solid base.

I used all 3 of these stones in the same way. Around 100 laps with preasure on slurry, another 100 or so laps while deluting the slurry with preasure, another 50+ on clear water with preasure then finished on clear water with a light stroke about 80+ laps.

I also honed up one razor from scratch to 20k so i had 4 to test this afternoon. Test shave was very nice.
20k edge wiped the wiskers away with no issues.

Jnat edge was keen and smooth. Not as keen as the 20k but a little less harsh. Not bad at all. I would call it a nice step back from the 20k but just a little.

The Zulu was keen but smoother than the Jnat edge. The keenness might have been about the same as Jnat but the feel was smoother, more comfort.

The Thuri was an eye opener. It wasnt as keen as the others but damn close. But the comfort level was much higher than the others. A little loss in sharpness for a lot more comfort.

I was very happy with my testing. All razors turned out to be nice edges and all felt differently. And i honed them all in the same way. Now i was going to put an Arkie in the mix but its an oil stone and i didnt want to get that in the mix.

So, I feel my honing is getting better all the time. Synthetics are simple. A no brainer. And now the naturals are all coming together too. Fun, fun! Just wanted to let you all know about this Natural Rock Journey I went on.

If i can now learn to get along with my Cnat and Washita. Its a long slow trip but very enjoyable!

Wow to take 4 razors and get them all shaving that well on different naturals is no easy feat. Definitely a testament to the hard work you have put into honing. Thanks for sharing. That had to have been a satisfying test shave.

Nice work, the pic you posted the other day was a nice edge.

If you want to learn how to hone, you just got to hone.

A lot.

Originally Posted by RezDog

The first giant step is the perfect apex. Once you have that dialed it the rest is icing on the cakes.

Bevel is 90% of the battle, am I right? Contrast that with all the focus on finishers, etcetera, and you see where I am going here.

This is no different than my home barista / espresso hobby where all the best forum advice urged one to invest heavily in a quality conical burr grinder over the espresso machine, since that's where the magic really begins outside of the coffee bean itself. Like most everyone else, I willingly ignored such advice and continued to upgrade my espresso machines more frequently and fervently than my grinders.

Once I landed the mother of all espresso machines, I turned my attention and scored a super deal on a commercial conical grinder. I was completely floored at the difference in taste improvement in the cup (straight espresso, nothing to hide behind or under) over the $900 Mazzer Mini-e grinder I was using previously.

Turns out those guys were spot-on in their conclusions. At least, this time around, when Glen said the bevel was 90% of the job, I listened and heeded the expert advice.

Now ya need a good Escher, Jerry. Its the last rock, u don't have.

When I perfected my different finishers, my razor behaved alike, but you notice slight differences.

I've come to a point where my 12k, thuri and coti all shave very alike.

Coti is the boss in skin friendliness followed by thuri and then the 12k.

They all shave very well without effort. Something about the synthetic that shaves very keenly though.

Cotis are tricky however, my La Grise is so slow my pre-Coti hone is a Thüringer, which removes metal at a higher rate than my Coti. Tricky little buggers that have caused me much frustration in the process.

Thüringers are boss though, their consistency make it a very desirable hone and they're perfect finishers.

The 12K is a no nonsense hone that does its job very well. Shaves are easy and smooth.



Aside from all that, I still find that the grind of the razor has more impact on the liking of the shave than the difference in finishers for me.